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‘I just want you to sleep,’ the demon said gently. ‘Don’t you want that, too?’

Suddenly Nico’s eyes felt heavy. ‘No!’ he said. ‘I don’t want to go to sleep.’

‘Nico?’

Both Nico and Epiales turned their heads.

Will was sitting upright, his eyes wide. ‘What’s going on? Who is this guy?’

‘Um,excuse me!’ said Epiales, their body pluming angry black smoke. ‘I am not a guy!’

Will gulped. ‘Oh, sorry.’

‘Like, do you think that demonkind, in all our glory, would stick to the completely archaic notion of there being onlytwogenders?’

‘Not at all.’ Nico shot Will a look that hopefully saidStay calm,though it might actually have saidHelp!‘I mean … how boring would that be?’

Epiales smiled. ‘You understand me, Nico! You might notknowme, but youseeme, don’t you?’

‘I promise it won’t happen again,’ said Will, nodding. ‘Just let my boyfriend go.’

‘Oh, he’s not going anywhere,’ said Epiales. ‘And neither are you, demigod!’

Will, still groggy from his slumber, was unable to dart out of the way before the demon’s shadowy appendages shot out and held him in place, too.

‘Will!’ Nico cried out. ‘Leave him alone, Epiales!’

‘You are both right where you are supposed to be!’ the demon said giddily. ‘Oh, Mother will besoproud! I am Epiales, the demon of nightmares, and you two willneverwake up again!’

As more appendages wrapped around both boys, smoke billowed from the demon’s body, stinging Nico’s eyes and filling his lungs. Nico thrashed in the demon’s clutches, but it was no use. Epiales blasted him with their powers, and Nico gave in to the darkness.

Nico found himself at Camp Half-Blood.

He stood outside the front door of the Big House, hand raised, cheeks stinging from the cold. As his knuckles rapped the door, he realized which moment he was reliving. He knew what waited for him on the other side of that door: another memory he very much preferred not to visit. But, like in all his nightmares, he had no choice.

He pushed his way inside.

His gaze jumped anxiously from Chiron to Annabeth, from Silena Beauregard to Charles Beckendorf, from the Stoll brothers to …

Percy Jackson.

All of them were gathered in the living room, staring glumly at the carpet or the fire crackling in the hearth.

Nico didn’t want to ask what was wrong. He already knew the answer. Still, the words spilled from his mouth. ‘Hey! Where’s my sister?’

The air seemed to leave the room, just as it had on the actual day. The blood drained from Percy’s face.

He stood, putting out his palms, as if Nico were a feral cat he was trying to approach. ‘Hey, Nico … listen to me, okay?’

The memory was so raw, so agonizing. But Nico managed to regain control, wresting himself from the grip of the dream logic. ‘NO!’ he screamed. ‘I am not reliving this nightmare again!’

Chiron swivelled his wheelchair towards him. ‘You have to, young demigod,’ he said, but his voice was wrong. It now belonged to Epiales. ‘You can’t escape this.’

Nico sneered. He marched across the room, pushing aside Percy Jackson, and loomed over Chiron. ‘You’vebeen behind all the horrible dreams I’ve been having for months, then. Why do you keep telling me to listen? What does it have to do with Bob?’

Chiron’s face twisted in confusion, and Epiales spoke through him again. ‘Formonths? But –’

‘You can’t manipulate me.’ Nico unsheathed his sword. ‘This isn’t real, and you can’t hold me here forever.’